USP After a heady day of Pimms and fluttering at the racecourse it’s a good place to take off the fancy hats and sweat it all out.

AMBIENCE A country house hotel complete with turrets, equestrian themed décor, and neat modern rooms each with a Bible in the bedside drawer. The Vital spa is tucked away behind the hotel. It has cool copper-coloured oblong tiling, a decent 18m pool and a thermal suite with salt infusion and ice grotto. There are six treatment rooms where they use Decleor (the Decleor body balm smelt a bit like mild furniture polish) and Carita products, and the brand new outdoor heated garden tub will be finished in plenty of time for Ascot this year.

QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE Steffa from Germany was efficient and professional (what else would you expect?). Some spas
don’t appear to give the pre-treatment form a second glance, but “It’s bad policy not to refer to the consultation form,” she told me - "what if you’d had metal pins in your knee?" Before Steffa started my full-body Swedish massage, she established my goal to relax – and, once started, seemed to be aware intuitively of my pain threshold.

She applied her powerful thumbs - the dinosaur at the Natural History Museum that kills with its thumb floated into my mind - skilfully on my temples and skull. One of her repertoire had me in a police-style armlock while she massaged in a crescent shape across my shoulder. Another was the ubiquitous karate chop on all limbs. On more than one occasion I was told off: “Relax. If you contract I won’t get anywhere near the muscles.”

To round off we did some collaborative yogic-style breathing – “in” as she massaged gently, then “out” through the hole at the end of the heated bed as she applied pressure to points on my back. She summed me up as having gritty shoulders that will get worse with age, and rated me as 4/10 on the knotty back scale. Not bad after a particularly stressful week.

Ironically, my spa-ing partner, who couldn’t face the cooked breakfast, ended up with a “porridge” face mask – which seemed to make her feel (and look) a lot happier than bacon and eggs usually does.

FOOD The spa menu covers cappuccino and smoothies as well as light bites such as grilled red snapper with tagliatelle and pesto (£11), and Loch Fyne smoked salmon with crème fraiche and malt loaf (£8.50). Gourmet food is available in the Hyperion restaurant upstairs.

IN CROWD A good range of ages, mainly women, were using the spa on the Saturday when I visited. “Odd” millionaires and bookies’ wives roll up during Ascot week and ex-Steps member Lisa Scott-Lee is one of the 600 health club members. Nearby Legoland, Thorpe Park and Windsor Castle make the hotel a good “something for everyone” family option.

WALLET WATCH Essentially Yours Aromatic Decleor facial (£55 for one hour); a full body Swedish massage is the same price. There are also treatments for men and mums to be.

NEED TO KNOW Macdonald Berystede Hotel & Spa, Bagshot Road, Sunninghill, Ascot, SL5 9JH (0870 400 8111; www.macdonaldhotels.co.uk/berystede/)

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